Jump to content


Imoen


  • Please log in to reply
No replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Anonymous_*

Posted 23 October 2002 - 04:36 AM

Imoen
by Ryan Brady

A cool breeze blew through the warm night air, carrying the sent of dry autumn leaves and the hint of the coming chill of winter. Jaycen looked over the edge of the balcony at the streets below where a group of children ran past, giggling and laughing with youthful exuberance. He stared off into the distance, savoring all the sights, sounds, and smells that flooded his senses, and all the memories that drifted through his thoughts. So far had he traveled. And so much had changed. Was it really only nine months ago that he had left Candlekeep with Gorion on that fateful night? It all seemed so far away now.

He snapped back into reality as the sound of a soft knock came from the door to his room. The young paladin slowly turned back toward the door, pausing to take in the fleeting sensations for one more moment before calling out. “Come.”

The door swung open and Jaheira entered the room. She looked around briefly before seeing Jaycen standing outside on the balcony. “I hope I am not interrupting anything.”

“Not at all, old friend,” Jaycen replied as he smiled and shook his head. “I was just...thinking.” He turned back to the city behind him and leaned his arms on the cold iron railing.

Jaheira pulled aside the satin curtains and slowly walked over to where Jaycen was standing, placing her arms over the railing and mimicking his stance. “Tis a fine night to reminisce.” The two friends stood in silence for several minutes before Jaheira spoke again. “A copper for your thoughts.”

Jaycen continued to stare out across the skyline of Athkatla and off into the horizon where the sun was slowly setting and casting a dazzling array of colors across the cloudy early evening sky. “I’d be more than happy to share my thoughts with you”, he sighed, “if I could only figure them out for myself first.” Jaheira nodded understandingly as Jaycen turned to look at her. “Jaheira, do you remember the night I discovered I was a Bhaalspawn?”

She nodded sympathetically. “It was a difficult time for you. So many questions must have been running through your mind. And so few answers were available. You show great strength of character to have pulled through as well as you have. I imagine Imoen must be going through the same thing now. But she is also strong, in her own way, and she will pull through as well. Besides, she has you to help her.”

“I’ll always be there for her, but...” Jaycen sighed. “I just don’t know in what capacity.”

Jaheira smiled knowingly. “You love her, don’t you?”

Jaycen nodded. “Yes, I do. And it’s eating me up inside. I love that girl more than life itself. I want to be with her so badly and now I come to find out that she’s my...my sister?”

“Half-sister, actually,” Jaheira shrugged. “One must keep these things in perspective.”

Jaycen rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It’s all a matter of semantics. It doesn’t change what she is and it doesn’t change the fact that things are going to be different between us now.” He shook his head and sighed. “Jaheira, I know there’s a lot of weird things going on in the Realms these days and there’s not too much that isn’t socially acceptable. I mean, we’ve got half-dragons and half-ogres running around. How do you think THAT happened?” Jaheira smirked and nodded at what Jaycen was implying as he continued, “But there’s certain things you just don’t do. And falling in love with your own sister...or even half-sister...is one of them. At least for me it is. But I just can’t bear the thought of not being with her.” He clenched his fists in frustration. “I never had the courage to tell her how I feel, and now...now it’s too late.”

Jaheira placed her hand tenderly on Jaycen’s shoulder. “Jaycen, ask yourself why you love Imoen. Ask yourself what the two of you share. Is it a physical lust? Is it passion of the flesh?”

Jaycen shook his head. “Of course not. Well, don’t get me wrong...she is awfully cute, but that’s not why I love her. She could look like a gibberling for all I care. I love the way she makes me laugh. The way she can always find the lighter side of every situation. The way she’s never lost that childhood innocence, even after all she’s been through. She compliments all my strengths and makes up for all of my short comings. I love her courage and her inner strength, and the way she invokes the same in me. I love her because she believes in me, because she trusts me implicitly. And I love her because she’s the one person in this world who I know will stand by my side through thick and thin and will never let me down.”

Jaheira smiled and nodded. “So, tell me, how has this changed now?” Jaycen started to answer, but stopped to consider the question. Jaheira answered for him. “Nothing has changed. The love is still there, and it always will be. All that is different is the manner in which it is expressed. Jaycen, you and Imoen have a beautiful thing that transcends words and defies definition. It is a bond that is stronger than any spell Elminster has ever weaved and that will last longer than the stars in the evening sky. It is something that few people have ever known and something that anyone would be truly blessed to find.”

Thinking back on all he and Imoen had been through, Jaycen mulled Jaheira’s words over for several long minutes, and eventually smiled. “You’re right. Thanks, Jaheira. That really helps being everything into perspective. But...there’s still one thing I’ve got to do.”

The old wooden floorboards creaked and groaned as Jaycen went back into the inn and slowly walked down the hall to Imoen’s room and softly knocked on the door. Getting no response he opened the door and quietly peeked inside. Imoen was curled up in a little ball under the pink silk covers of her bed, sleeping soundly, with the slightest hint of a smile on her lips. Jaycen knelt down beside the bed and watched her sleep, gently running his fingers through her crimson hair.

As he thought back over all the time they had spent together, he could hear Imoen’s sweet voice echo in his mind. He remembered the day Gorion first brought her to the citadel. “Heya! I’m Imoen. I don’t have any friends here yet. Or anywhere, really. Ya wanna be my first friend?”

He remembered the time they spent together growing up in Candlekeep and how she would always pester him for stories. “So will you tell me a story about trollops and plug-tails? PLEASE?”

He remembered finding that Imoen had followed him the day after Gorion’s murder. “I’m not about to let you wander around out here all by yourself. Never let a friend down, I always say. I’ll stay with ya ‘til you say otherwise.”

He remembered how Imoen risked her life to fight by his side against Sarevok in the Temple of Bhaal beneath Baldur’s Gate. “You want a piece of Jaycen? Then you’re gettin’ a piece of me too! I’ll show you a fight, ya mutton mongering riff-raff!”

He remembered comforting her as they spent the night trapped in Irenicus’ dungeon in Waukeen’s Promenade. “I would have gone running and screaming a thousand times over if you weren’t here.”

He wiped away a tear as he remembered the feeling of utter helplessness as he tried in vain to reach out and save her from the Cowled Wizards. “What? No! I didn’t do anything wrong! I’m not going with them! Somebody help me! Please! Jaycen! Help me!”

He remembered the look she gave him, a look that defied words yet was filled with so much emotion, as he saved her from the dungeons of Spellhold. “Are you all right? I was so scared...you came all this way to get me and we were almost... I'm sorry, Jaycen, I was just so worried about you...”

And he remembered the words she spoke after they destroyed Bodhi, the vampiress who held her divine soul. “Jaycen, after all you’ve done for me, after all we’ve been through together...I’d follow you through hell and back if I had to.” Little did he know at the time how willing she was to make good on that promise.

Jaycen leaned forward and, for the briefest of moments, pressed his lips softly against hers for the first time...and the last. “I love you, Imoen,” he whispered. Then he rose to his feet to leave the room. As he reached the threshold he stopped to look back briefly, smiled, and slowly closed the door behind him.




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

Skin Designed By Evanescence at IBSkin.com